Milkweed is rapidly disappearing from our landscapes primarily because homeowners consider it an ugly, invasive weed and VDOT poisons it regularly alongside the roads. There is one place, however, where milkweed is flourishing, and that’s on golf courses. Well, not on the fairways and short grass, but in places where a golfer really shouldn’t be – like the rough and the edge of the … [Read more...]

  We have a table umbrella on our patio that we usually keep rolled up, so the wind doesn’t scoop down and blow it away. That happens. The other day, Nancy decided to crank the handle and spread the umbrella for company and her first guest was none other than a sleeping bat, and he was most upset. He had worked his way up into the nice, dark folds of the umbrella and had been sound … [Read more...]

  Ken Ham was a high school science teacher in Australia, but in his teachings and studies, he had a problem with the theory of evolution. Rather, Ham believed the biblical account was more accurate and even more in line with science. He gave up teaching and went into the ministry, then became haunted with building a Creation Museum to visually display the biblical account of … [Read more...]

A Typical Oyster Mushroom   I remember as a boy going with Daddy to take our bird dogs for a walk in late August and September. It gave the dogs much needed exercise and allowed us to take inventory of any new quail coveys. What I most remember about those walks is mushrooms. We would often happen upon a stand of spores and Daddy put many of them in a sack he carried just for that … [Read more...]

  The clock is ticking. It’s the time of the year for Lyme disease and it’s nasty. Some sturdies report close to 300,000 new cases of the disease each year and many cases go unreported because they were not properly diagnosed. Lyme disease is transmitted from infected ticks. Deer are most responsible as carrying hosts, but other mammals such as bears, mice and other small animals may … [Read more...]

“There are bees on our new plants,” Nancy said. “That’s good,” I responded, thinking she may have seen a couple of honeybees. But there weren’t just a couple, there were dozens and dozens of honeybees dipping in and among the tiny white blossoms of our two Mountain Mint plants. I often go an entire summer and don’t see that many. These lovely plants are amazing bee attractors. Last fall, … [Read more...]

  My wife Nancy has spent a lot of time working in our yard and it really shows. She has watered and weeded regularly and keeps things trim with her edging and weed eaters. Throughout the yard, her flowers and shrubs are lovely. But the ones I believe both of us are proudest of are the wildflowers she planted around our birdbath. They were perennials and are flowers like you would … [Read more...]

  Photo by Gary Youngblood   Every morning, we amateur birders look out our windows in hopes of seeing a unique bird at one of our feeders. Not that there is anything wrong with our regular visitors, but to catch sight of a cedar waxwing or a red breasted grosbeak every now and then is nothing less than exciting. But imagine, if you can. taking a sip of morning coffee, … [Read more...]

  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to reuse Ziploc bags? We go through literally thousands of Ziplocs a year at our house, and it seems such a waste to be able to use these plastic bags just once. But I had heard of reusable bags, and I tried a pack. They are called Re-Zip bags and they work extremely well. The bags come in both Stand-Up and Lay-Flat sizes. They are leak proof - really … [Read more...]

  Is there such a thing as a State Record for a fallfish? Apparently. A fellow named Josh Dolin caught one of these “trash fish” on the Cowpasture River on May 6. He weighed it in at 3 ½ pounds and they say that’s a new Virginia state record. Fallfish are nightmares to trout fishermen. They live in the same kinds of waters. Two fallfish I have caught in the past stand out in my … [Read more...]